Front License Plate States 2026: 20 Need Only a Rear Plate
20 US states need only a rear licence plate; 25 require a front plate too. Utah dropped its front plate in 2025. Full state table with sources.
Rear plate only: 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio and Utah (since 1 Jan 2025). Front and rear required: 25 states.
| Front plate | States |
|---|---|
| Required | 25 states (some with exceptions) |
| Not required (rear plate only) | 20 states |
| Not verified here | 5 states |
20 US states issue a rear licence plate only and do not require a front plate, including Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio and Utah; 25 states require plates on both the front and the rear of a passenger car. Utah dropped the front plate from 1 January 2025.
Rear-only states
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia.
Front licence plate rules by state
For visitors
See each state’s page under US states for its other driving rules.
Sources
- State statutes and DMV pages, linked in each row.
- North Carolina Department of Transportation, License Plate Production Final Report (Project 2017-17), Table 1 (February 2019), for rows marked connect.ncdot.gov.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia.
No. Utah moved to rear-only plates from 1 January 2025.
25 states require front and rear plates; some allow exceptions, for example cars built without a front bracket.